Travertine Kitchen Floor Stripped And Resealed In Wilmslow, Cheshire

Posted on September 20, 2015 by TileProf

Another quick job here in Cheshire, this time in the town of Wilmslow. Much like Alderly Edge, where I recently completed another job, Wilmslow is an affluent area known for its upmarket lifestyle and as a popular option for residence amongst celebrities and famous figures. In fact it is currently, and has previously been, home to several Premier League footballers from the nearby clubs Manchester United and Manchester City.

This job was another case of where a tiled floor had lost its shine due to the sealer wearing away over time. In this instance, my client had a Travertine tiled floor in her kitchen that she wanted to me to restore back to looking at its best.

Travertine Tiled Floor Before Refurbish Wilslow

Travertine is a fantastic natural stone which possesses unique features that no other stone can offer. It offers a particularly distinctive design style, making it a popular choice both for commercial and residential use. Many homeowners use Travertine tiles for kitchen flooring, bathroom walls and floors and for external floors, such as patios.

Removing the old sealer

The process of stripping off old sealer can be done effectively and relatively quickly without using a liquid stripper. The best method is to use a series of fine diamond encrusted burnishing pads, which is exactly what I did in this case. The burnishing pads are applied in sequence from coarse, medium, fine and superfine to remove the old sealer without damaging the Travertine and then re-polish to a lovely polished shine.

Applying a new sealer for protection and colour enhancement

One the floor had been burnished, rinsed and dried; I proceeded to re-seal the floor with Tile Doctor Colour Grow. Colour Grow is particularly effective when to seal porous natural stone surfaces such as Travertine and Limestone, whether internal or external. This is because the product is specially formulated to penetrate deep into the pores of the stone, providing durable surface protection from within.

The other key benefit of Colour Grow is that it intensifies the colours within the stone, as you can from the photos. This adds additional character and flair to already impressive household features like this Travertine floor.

Travertine Tiled Floor After Refurbish Wilslow

The finished results were exactly what my client had hoped for. It goes to show that with the right methods and know-how such a big difference can be made to the appearance of tiled floors. I was very happy to help.

Maintaining a Polished Stone Floor in Cheshire

Cleaning and Repairing a Limestone Tiled Office Floor in Wilmslow

Posted on June 23, 2015 by Kevin Parry

This is a polished Limestone floor in the reception area of an office in the town of Wilmslow that had been installed around ten years prior. As you can see they were now in a poor state with ingrained dirt and cracks across the surface of some of the tiles.

Damaged Limestone Tiled Floor in Wilmslow Before

Deep Cleaning Limestone Tile and Grout

The polished Limestone tiles needed to be cut back and refinished with a set of diamond encrusted burnishing pads however my first task was to clean the grout lines by applying a medium dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean and scrubbing it in with a stiff narrow brush. I gave the grout a rinse with hot water and removed the now soiled water with a wet vacuum.

The next task was to start the burnishing process by running a course pad fitter to my rotary machine over each tile lubricated with a little water. The coarse pad removes the dirt from the Limestone and resultant slurry is washed away with more water and the wet vacuum. This process is repeated with the “medium” and “fine” polishing pads which restore the surface and build up the polish back on the tile.

Before moving onto the final polishing pad I tackled the large cracks in the tile by filling them with a colour matching resin. There could be a number of reasons for the cracks but typically it would indicate some sort of movement in the subfloor. A common cause is due to the concrete base was not being given sufficient time to dry out before being tiled over and shrinkage in the concrete as it dries caused movement.

Repairing and Sealing Limestone Tiles

Once the resin had dried I moved onto to apply the final “Super Fine” polishing pad which brings up the polish on the Limestone to that final deep level again using a little water and rinsing down afterwards.

Once the floor was dry it was then sealed with two coats of Tile Doctor Colour Grow which is an impregnating sealer which penetrates into the pores of the stone protecting it from within, it also had the added benefit of bringing out the natural colours in the stone enhancing the look of the floor.

Damaged Limestone Tiled Floor in Wilmslow After

Repairing and Polishing a Limestone tiled floor in Cheshire

Ceramic Tiled Bathroom Refreshed in Wilmslow

Posted on January 13, 2014 by Kevin Parry

This Ceramic tiled bathroom with shower was installed at house Wilmslow and was overdue a refresh. You can see from the photographs below that the bathroom was looking tired and the tile and grout was discoloured with mould and acid build-up from washing products.

Cleaning Ceramic Tile and Grout

The Ceramic tiles and grout were treated using a strong 2:1 dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean which is a strong alkaline Tile and Grout cleaning product. The solution was decanted into a bottle with a trigger spray attachment which when sprayed onto the wall allows the cleaner to mix with air making it lighter and allowing it to stick better. The solution was then worked in using a stiff scrubbing brush by hand before being rinsed off with water; this process was repeated a number of times until we had managed to clean all the areas and then left to dry.

Grout Colouring

The grout looked better but I was unable to shift some of the staining so we decided to apply a white Grout Colourant, it’s a time consuming process but I think you will agree it made a big difference. Additionally the grout colourant product we use also forms a barrier over the surface making the grout much easier to clean going forward.

The last step was to remove the silicone sealant from along the top of bath and replace with new.

Refreshing a Ceramic Tiled Bathroom Wilmslow

Restoring Terracotta Tiles in Wilmslow

Posted on May 10, 2013 by Kevin Parry

This Terracotta tiled floor installed in a house in Wilmslow had become black and discoloured in areas due to the customer being badly advised on what sealer to use themselves; this resulted in the sealer staying tacky and turning black over time

Cleaning Discoloured Terracotta Tiles

To remove any remaining sealer and deep clean the Terracotta tile we used a strong dilution of Tile Doctor Pro-Clean worked into the floor with a buffing machine fitted with a black scrubbing pad. Pro-Clean is an ideal cleaner for natural floors due to its alkaline formula which doesn’t eat away at the tile like an acidic cleaner, it’s also very good for cleaning up grout however I find that’s best tackled manually using a stiff brush.

Last step in the process was to remove the soiled cleaning solution with a wet vacuum and then wash the whole floor down with clean water in order to neutralise it before sealing, we then left the floor so it could dry overnight.

Sealing and Colouring Terracotta Tiles

The next step was to seal the Terracotta floor and for this we applied Tile Doctor Seal and Go which is a water based sealer recommended for Terracotta floors, it provides stain protection and a low sheen that lifts the look of the floor. Seven coats were required due to the porosity of the Terracotta tile.

Cheshire Tile Doctor

Your local Tile, Stone and Grout Cleaning and Sealing service Tel: 0345 512 0122 E-Mail:North-Cheshire@tiledoctor.co.uk

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